Tuesday, May 28, 2013

My French name collection is growing. I need people to write theirnames for me when I'm abroad, because even when the names are familiar, thepronunciations never are. Someone will say an incomprehensible name to me, I'll be like, "WOAH!" and ask them to write it down, then I'll look atwhat they've written and feel rather silly, because I have three friends and a sister with that name (for example).

Monday, May 27, 2013

These are not all my meals. My companions -- fellow authors, publishing folk and interpreters -- became accustomed to me leaning over their shoulders with my iPhone.

Please forgive me for the fact that in some cases, I can't remember what these dishes were, and also for the fact that I don't have time tonight to identify the ones I do remember! In some cases, it should be obvious what they are – tea, pizza, salad, souffle, fish and chips, cheese. I discovered one day that my belly has a cheese limit; beyond this limit, cheesebellyachus sets in. This is a nonfatal condition that leaves one with the genuine quandary of whether it is worth it to continue eating cheese. There are things you might never discover about yourself unless you visit France.

Click on them to make them big and beautiful. A few notes: No, the raw stuff was not mine – it was Gail Carriger's — she's a much more adventurous eater than I am. The gorgeous nail polish wasn't mine, either — that belonged to Annaïg Houesnard, lovely translator and interpreter.

The marketing and communications director at
Le Livre de Poche, Manuel Soufflard, was very
excited about his dessert.

A couple of years back, I closed comments on my blog and removed email access. When I started using Twitter as an amalgamation feed for my blog, I decided to make it clear in my profile that I don't read @-replies. And I'm not on Facebook. All of these were rather soul-wrenching decisions, I'm afraid -- firstly because I was aware that it would come across as unfriendly and unwelcoming to some readers, and secondly, because it meant I would stop receiving such wonderful notes and messages from fans of my books, stop having so many opportunities to connect with my readers. I asked for a lot of advice from friends and colleagues each time I made one of these decisions. Everyone I asked, even the people I expected to lean the other way, told me I should do it, because the people who knew me best could see how much social media was interfering with my writing.

The problem is that I couldn't do it halfway. If people were writing to me, I wanted to be there, reading and responding -- but the volume began to grow to the point where I was doing social media instead of writing. I suppose I could've stopped reading comments and emails and simply pretended I was reading them -- except that I really couldn't, because it wouldn't have been respectful to my readers. (This is why I'm so straightforward in my Twitter profile: I don't want readers to think I'm reading things I'm actually not reading! It would feel insincere.) I thought about getting an assistant, but that would have been quite a lifestyle change for me, and I suspected that my writing would suffer; in order to write, I need a more simple life than that.

I admire writers who can balance the writing and the social media aspects of their lives so well. Regretfully, what I've learned about myself as a writer is that I don't have that skill for balance that many writers have. I can't create the bubble I need to write my books if I'm also completely connected to social media. And I have to write my books. It's my job, and also a huge part of my identity.

(I'll also mention one other not-insignificant reason why I made this decision: as a female writer who creates female characters who sometimes (sometimes!) choose to have sex outside of wedlock, not to get married, not to have children, to self-sterilize, generally to make their own decisions rather than do what society tells them they're supposed to do, a disturbing number of the emails I received, back when I was receiving emails, were from haters. And seriously, who needs that? The flip side of this coin is that unfortunately, now I don't receive those wonderful emails from women thanking me for presenting these types of female characters, either. But I know you're out there, readers -- I meet you at festivals and receive snail mail from you -- and you sustain me.)

Festivals and events are extra-special to me now, because they're my opportunity to connect with readers. I'll also point out, for anyone who hasn't noticed, that you can write me a snail mail letter -- the address is behind this link. I get the most WONDERFUL snail mail letters!

And that's that. Thank you, readers, for embracing the work of eccentric and introverted writers. :o) Now, off I go to write...

Saturday, May 25, 2013

You know, Épinal is becoming one of my favorite festivals. This festival – dedicated to fantasy/sci-fi literature and art – has such a wonderful personality, and I just love spending time with the people here. Maybe I'll have a few pictures and some things to say, when I have more time.

This is my last post of pictures from Saint-Malo – walled fort city on the coast of Brittany. The danger with my sea pictures is of showing you different versions of the same scene over and over, but lucky for all of you, I don't have much time this evening. So I'll stick to highlights.

Quick Links

"Then, at last, sitting on her stretcher-bed, she took from the very bottom of her pack an old peacock-blue scarf folded around a heavy, square book. She unwrapped it and opened it very carefully, as if guilty secrets might fall from between its pages like pressed flowers. This was Harry's secret. She was a writer."

-from The Tricksters, by Margaret Mahy

Writing is my secret. Every day I unwrap and open it as carefully as I can. Welcome to my blog about writing and life! Above you'll find quick links about me and my books, and below is more about me, ways to subscribe, and an archive of past posts. Click here to go home to my most recent posts.

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About the Author

Kristin Cashore wrote the New York Times bestsellers Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue, all of which have been named ALA Best Books for Young Adults. Her next book, Jane, Unlimited, comes out in September 2017. Graceling is the winner of the 2009 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature and Fire is the winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award. The books are world travelers, currently scheduled to be published in thirty-four languages.

Finally, a note: This blog is my only online presence. I am not on Facebook, Google+, or any other social media sites, and I use Twitter solely as an amalgamation feed for my blog. Sorry, but I do not read @-replies on Twitter!